Washing-machine.



A. T. LOFTSGAARDBN. WASHING MAGHIN'E.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1912.

1,084,946, Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

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A. T. LOFTSGAARDEN. WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.18, 1912.

1,084,946. Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

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A..T. LOPTSGAARDEN. WASHING MACHINE. APPLIGATION FILED APR.18, 1912,

Patented Jan.20,1914.

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INVENTOR M A 110m? COLUMBlA PLANOGRAPH CO.,\VASH|NGTON. D. c.

OFFICE.

ALBERT T. LOFTSGAARDEN, OF POWELL, WYOMING.

WASHING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 20, 1914.

Application filed April 18, 1912. Serial No. 691,761.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT T. LOFTS- GAARDEN, citizen of the United States, residing at Powell, in the county of Park and State of \Vyoming, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ll ashing- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention pertains to washing machines and is designed more particularly as a practical improvement upon the washing machine constituting the subject matter of my contemporary application for patent, filed October 9, 1911, Serial No. 653,685.

One of the objects of my present invention is the provision of simple and efficient means for preventing clothes that are being washed from pulling away from the ends of the tray comprised in the machine.

Another obj ectof the present invention is the provision of simple, strong and otherwise improved means for exerting yielding pressure downward on the corrugated rollers included in the machine, and this in such manner that when there is a greater thickness of clothes at one end of the tray than at the opposite end thereof, the rollers can automatically accommodate themselves to the same.

Other advantageous characteristics peculiar to the machine constituting the subject of the present invention will be fully understood from the following description and claim when the same are read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan of the machine constituting the best practical embodiment of my invention that I have as yet devised. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the machine, taken in a plane above the rollers. Fig. i is a longitudinal vertical section of the machine. Fig. 4*- is a transverse section of the tray. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the ma chine. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section of the means carrying the rollers. Fig. 7 is a detail section, taken at a right angle to Fig. 6.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings.

My improved machine comprises a body 1, preferably though not necessarily of metal, and equipped with a top 2, hinged at 3. At one end of the body 1 are upwardly and outwardly extending fixed arms 4:, designed to support the top 2 when the latter is opened to an upwardly and outwardly inclined position. The said arms 4L also serve for the connection of gravitating pawls 5.

Arranged and adjustable vertically in the body 1 is a tray of metal, wood or other suitable material. The said tray preferably comprises a bottom 6 having transverse ribs or corrugations 7, and sides 8 inclined outward from the bottom and having ribs or corrugations 9. It will also be noted here that the rollers 10 which cooperate with the tray in the rubbing or working of the clothes that are being washed, are ribbed or corrugated correspondingly to the tray bottom 6, and that the ends of the rollers are tapered conformably to the inclination of the tray sides 8 and are also ribbed or corrugated. By virtue of this it will be manifest that incidental to the operation of the machine clothes are worked and washed between the tray bottom and the major intermediate portions of the rollers and alsobetween the inclined tray sides and the tapered end portions of the rollers from which it follows that the machine is possessed of large capacity besides allowing rollers to pass more freely over the tray. The rollers 10 may be made of wood or metal in the discretion of the manufacturer of the machine. In the use of the machine the rollers 10 are moved to and fro in the direction of the length of the machine and over clothes placed in the tray and between the same and the rollers, and an important feature of my invention resides in means calculated to pre vent the clothes that are being washed from pulling away from the ends of the tray and being massed or bundled which would obviously interfere with the expeditious and thorough cleansing thereof. The said means comprises bail-shaped clot-hes holders 11, one adjacent each end of the tray and over which the clothes can be looped to preclude pulling of the clothes away from the ends of the tray. The said holders may be connected with the tray in any manner consonant with their purpose without departure from the spirit of my invention. I prefer, however, to provide the holders 11 with hooks 12 at their ends, and to engage the said hooks 12 wit-h the sides 8 of the tray through vertical slots 13 in said sides; and I also prefer to provide two pairs of slots 13 in the tray sides, this in order that the holders 11 may be placed at different distances from each other according to the lengths of the garments to be washed at one time or the character of the clothes. I would. also here direct attention to the fact that the holders 11 are capable of moving vertically in the slots to suit the thicknesses of the masses of clothes to be washed.

Pivoted at 14 to opposite sides of the tray are bell cranks 15 having wheels 16 on their lower arms, which wheels bear on strips 17 fixed on the bottom of the body 1. The upper arms of the bell-cranks 15 at one side of the tray are connected by a longitudinal bar 18, and the upper arms of the bellcranks at the opposite side are connectedby a similar bar 18. Connected to the said bars 18, preferably in a detachable manner through the medium of hoops 19 are cables 20. These cables are connected to and designed to be wound on drums 21, fixed to a shaft 22 which is journaled in suitable hearings on one end of the body or tub 1 and is equipped with a crank 23 and ratchetdisks 2l, the latter for the engagement of the before mentioned pawls 5. By rotating the shaft 22 in the proper direction the cables 21 may be taken up on the drums 21, and the bell cranks 15 can be swung on the tray to elevate the latter and fix the pressure to which the clothes on the tray will be subjected; the pawls 5 serving, as will be readily understood, to retain the tray in the position to which the same is raised. IVhen the pawls 5 are raised to release the tray the latter will gravitate to its lowermostposition in the body or tub 1, this because the wheels 16 will freely travel outward or toward the ends of the body.

The rollers 10 are mounted in bails 25 journaled on an interposed bar 26, and fixed to and extending upward from the said bar 26 is a tube 27 provided with diametrically opposite slots 28. In the said tube 27 is telesooped a rod 29, having studs 30 movable in the slots 28, and between an abutment on the said rod 29 and an abutment in the bottom of tube 27 is interposed a spring 31 which has for its function to yieldingly press the rollers 10 against the clothes that are being washed. At its upper end the rod 29 is hingedly attached as indicated by 29 to a longitudinal reciprocatory bar 32, thus enabling the rod 29 and the parts connected therewith to swing in the direction of the length of the machine. In the present embodiment of my invention the bar 32 is movable above the top 2 of the tub or body 1, and hence said top 2 is provided with a slot 33 to permit of longitudinal movement of the said rod 29. The bar 32 is provided at each of its ends with a wheel 34 rounded in the direction of the width of the ma chine, and the said wheels 34 are disposed and movable longitudinally of the machine in a longitudinal track portion 35 which is concave in the direction of the width of the machine.

The journaling of the bails 25 to the interposed bar 262 a, the pivotal connection of said bails with the bar, permits of the rollers 10 oscillating independently of each other transversely of the machine.

Incidental to the operation of the machine the wheels 3-t will always travel under and press against the under side of the top por tion 35 of the track and therefore will effi- 'ciently guide the rollers 10.

It is essential that the rod 29 be hingedly attached to the bar 32, and it is also essential that the rod 29 be extended down into the bar 26 so as to allow free up and down motion of the rod and preclude sidewise motion thereof. This obviates binding and assures the exertion of pressure on the clothes.

It will be manifest from the foregoing that the rollers 10, the bails 25, the interme diate portion 26, the tube 27, and the rod 29, are adapted to swing as a unit longitudinally of the machine, to enable the rollers 10 to automatically accommodate themselves to a greater thickness of clothes at one end of the tray than at the opposite end thereof. It will be noticed in this connection that the described hinging of the rod 29 to the bar 32 assures free movement of the wheels or rollers 34: without liability of binding of the bar 32 or of raising either Wheel 34 from the track portion when rollers 10 accommodate themselves to different thicknesses of clothes at the ends of the tray.

For the convenient reciprocation of the rollers 10 I provide the hand lever 40; and the links 41 and 42 interposed between and connecting said hand lever of the frame by which the rollers 10 are carried.

When made of iron all internal parts of my novel machine will be galvanized for reasons which are obvious.

It will be understood from the foregoing that when the top or cover 2 is lowered over the body 1, the rollers 10 are in position above the bottom of the tray and then by oscillating the lever 40 the rollers will be moved over the clothing placed on or in the tray. The spring 31 will hold the rollers 10 under yielding pressure against the clothes and yet will afford sufficient play to enable the rollers to pass over irregularities of the clothes. The pressure to which the clothes are subjected may be increased by raising the tray in the manner before described.

When it is desired to remove washed clothes from the machine, it is simply neces sary to raise the top or cover 2 and with it the rollers 10 and the connection between said rollers and the top or cover 2 when the clothes will be left exposed on the tray and may be readily lifted therefrom. Then other clothes are placed on the tray, the top or cover 2 is lowered to its closed position, and the operation described is repeated.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

In a washing machine, the combination with a tray having a ribbed bottom and also having ribbed sides inclined downwardly toward each other, of a roller disposed trans versely of the tray and mounted for movement over the tray in the direction of the length thereof and having longitudinal ribs and also having tapered end portions and longitudinal ribs on said end portions, a bail between the ends of which the roller is journaled, a support to which the bail is pivoted on an axis disposed at a right angle to the axis of the roller and located midway be tween the ends of the roller and above the center of the same and means for reciprocating said support.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT T. LOFTSGAARDEN.

Witnesses:

H. D. EDMONDS. J. R. BAIRD.

Zopies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

